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Pakistan Ranks 99th In Global Hunger Index: A Distressing “Serious” Level Of Food Insecurity

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(CTN NEWS) – In the realm of global demographics, Pakistan, a nation teeming with humanity and standing as the fifth most populous country, finds itself in a rather disheartening position.

A recent revelation from the Global Hunger Index (GHI) report places Pakistan at the 99th spot out of 129 nations, signifying a distressing “serious” level of hunger that plagues the country.

This significant report, a collaborative effort between the esteemed German non-profit organization Welthungerhilfe and its Irish counterpart, Concern Worldwide, has undergone rigorous peer review to ensure its credibility and accuracy.

Unveiling Pakistan’s Hunger Crisis: Urgent Action Needed to Combat Food Insecurity

The document was unveiled to the world during a momentous event held in Islamabad, the bustling capital city of Pakistan, on a Tuesday that shall not soon be forgotten.

Within the fabric of this deeply profound and meticulously curated report, the distressing reality of Pakistan’s hunger crisis is laid bare. The intricacies of this predicament call for urgent attention and concerted efforts from both national and international entities.

The ramifications of the country’s ranking on the GHI demand immediate action to address the pervasive hunger that has gripped the nation.

The pursuit of alleviating hunger and its associated afflictions is not an insurmountable task. It requires a collective and compassionate approach from governments, non-profit organizations, and compassionate individuals alike.

By fostering sustainable solutions and implementing comprehensive strategies, the dream of a hunger-free Pakistan can be transformed into a tangible reality.

The report highlights a global food crisis, attributing it to a dangerous combination of conflict, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which has left millions of people exposed to the risk of food shortages.

What is even more concerning, as the report indicates, is that GHI projections predict at least 46 countries worldwide, including Pakistan, will not be able to achieve a status of “low hunger” by the year 2030.

Pakistan’s performance in the 2022 report was distressing, with a GHI score of 26.1, worse than its score of 29.6 in the previous edition of the report published in 2014. Looking further back, the GHI scores for Pakistan were 32.1 in 2007 and 36.8 in 2000.

The situation calls for urgent and concerted efforts from the global community to address the underlying issues of conflict, climate change, and pandemic impact, in order to prevent further deterioration of food security in vulnerable regions like Pakistan and other affected countries.

Global Hunger Report Highlights Severe Food Crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia

The report, which was published in October of the previous year, revealed that Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia continue to experience the most severe levels of hunger, making them highly susceptible to future shocks and crises.

According to the report, South Asia stands out as the region with the highest hunger level globally. Shockingly, it also possesses the highest rates of child stunting and child wasting compared to any other region in the world.

Notably, Pakistan was specifically mentioned, alongside five other countries, for its increasing rates of stunting in children.

The report highlighted certain areas that showed the least improvement over time, where stunting levels either increased or remained stagnant.

These areas include central Chad, central Pakistan, central Afghanistan, northeastern Angola, as well as throughout the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Madagascar.

The findings underscore the urgent need for targeted interventions and global cooperation to address the persistent issue of hunger and malnutrition, particularly in regions like South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, and in countries with escalating child stunting rates such as Pakistan.

Efforts to improve food security and child nutrition must be intensified to protect vulnerable populations from further suffering and to build more resilient communities in the face of future challenges.

The release of the GHI report comes after a United Nations report released in May, which categorized Pakistan as an area of “very high concern” due to its severe food insecurity situation.

The UN report, a collaborative effort between the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization, painted a grim picture for Pakistan. It projected that over eight million people in the country would likely face “high levels of acute food insecurity”.

These reports underscore the urgent need for immediate attention and comprehensive action to address the pressing food crisis in Pakistan.

The situation demands coordinated efforts from international organizations, governments, and humanitarian agencies to provide essential aid and support to the affected populations and work towards building sustainable solutions to combat food insecurity in the region.

Pakistan’s Tumultuous 18 Months: Navigating a Severe Financial Crisis and Food Insecurity Challenges

Over the past 18 months, Pakistan has been grappling with a tumultuous situation, where an ongoing political crisis has exacerbated the country’s worst-ever financial downturn.

The devastating floods from the previous year inflicted lasting damage on the economy, leading to total losses of over $30 billion, with the agriculture sector alone suffering damages surpassing $100 million.

Adding to the woes, a mounting balance-of-payment crisis has severely depleted foreign reserves, leaving the country indebted to its creditors with a staggering sum of over $77 billion to be paid off within the next three years, as per the International Monetary Fund’s records.

As a consequence, inflation has surged to an all-time high, reaching 38 percent earlier this year, while energy tariffs have also risen due to demands made by the IMF.

Another critical factor affecting Pakistan’s economy is its heavy reliance on imports to meet domestic demands, resulting in the value of the national currency plummeting by more than 50 percent against the US dollar in the past year.

Abedullah, an agriculture economist and chief of research at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) based in Islamabad, emphasized two crucial issues in the current scenario: accessibility and affordability of food.

He stated that while food is available in the country, the primary problem is affordability, as squeezed incomes have reduced purchasing power, creating a major concern.

Abedullah further highlighted the need for the government to address inflation and curb the devaluation of the Pakistani rupee. He stressed the importance of boosting productivity and improving affordability to alleviate the hardships faced by the people.

Pakistan Struggles with Domestic Wheat Production Targets and Wheat Imports: A Food Security Concern

According to Adil Mansoor, a food security researcher based in Karachi, Pakistan’s domestic wheat production has consistently fallen short of the required targets, leading the country to import at least 10 percent of its wheat for a duration of at least four years.

He expressed skepticism about Pakistan achieving self-sufficiency in wheat production within the next five years, citing the inadequate yields from the seeds used for cultivation as a major hindrance.

While the quality of Pakistani wheat itself is not an issue, the lack of research facilities and expertise in developing improved seeds with higher productivity poses a significant challenge.

Mansoor also pointed out that Pakistan’s wheat exports, particularly to Afghanistan, have increased, driven by the adoption of a market-based exchange rate for the dollar, which has resulted in a more favorable profit margin for exporters.

The situation highlights the need for increased investment in agricultural research and infrastructure to improve crop productivity and reduce reliance on wheat imports.

Developing better seeds and enhancing agricultural practices could play a crucial role in addressing food security concerns in Pakistan and ensuring a stable supply of wheat for its population.

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Trudeau’s Gun Grab Could Cost Taxpayers a Whopping $7 Billion

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Trudeau's Gun Grab
Trudeau plans to purchase 2,063 firearm from legal gun owners in Canada - Rebel News Image

A recent report indicates that since Trudeau’s announcement of his gun buyback program four years ago, almost none of the banned firearms have been surrendered.

The federal government plans to purchase 2,063 firearm models from retailers following the enactment of Bill C-21, which amends various Acts and introduces certain consequential changes related to firearms. It was granted royal assent on December 15 of last year.

This ban immediately criminalized the actions of federally-licensed firearms owners regarding the purchase, sale, transportation, importation, exportation, or use of hundreds of thousands of rifles and shotguns that were previously legal.

The gun ban focused on what it termed ‘assault-style weapons,’ which are, in reality, traditional semi-automatic rifles and shotguns that have enjoyed popularity among hunters and sport shooters for over a century.

In May 2020, the federal government enacted an Order-in-Council that prohibited 1,500 types of “assault-style” firearms and outlined specific components of the newly banned firearms. Property owners must adhere to the law by October 2023.

Trudeau’s Buyback Hasn’t Happened

“In the announcement regarding the ban, the prime minister stated that the government would seize the prohibited firearms, assuring that their lawful owners would be ‘grandfathered’ or compensated fairly.” “That hasn’t happened,” criminologist Gary Mauser told Rebel News.

Mauser projected expenses ranging from $2.6 billion to $6.7 billion. The figure reflects the compensation costs amounting to $756 million, as outlined by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO).

“The projected expenses for gathering the illegal firearms are estimated to range from $1.6 billion to $7 billion.” “This range estimate increases to between $2.647 billion and $7 billion when compensation costs to owners are factored in,” Mauser stated.

Figures requested by Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs concerning firearms prohibited due to the May 1, 2020 Order In Council reveal that $72 million has been allocated to the firearm “buyback” program, yet not a single firearm has been confiscated to date.

In a recent revelation, Public Safety Canada disclosed that the federal government allocated a staggering $41,094,556, as prompted by an order paper question from Conservative Senator Don Plett last September, yet yielded no tangible outcomes.

An internal memo from late 2019 revealed that the Liberals projected their politically motivated harassment would incur a cost of $1.8 billion.

Enforcement efforts Questioned

By December 2023, estimates from TheGunBlog.ca indicate that the Liberals and RCMP had incurred or were responsible for approximately $30 million in personnel expenses related to the enforcement efforts. The union representing the police service previously stated that the effort to confiscate firearms is a “misdirected effort” aimed at ensuring public safety.

“This action diverts crucial personnel, resources, and funding from tackling the more pressing and escalating issue of criminal use of illegal firearms,” stated the National Police Federation (NPF).

The Canadian Sporting Arms & Ammunition Association (CSAAA), representing firearms retailers, has stated it will have “zero involvement” in the confiscation of these firearms. Even Canada Post held back from providing assistance due to safety concerns.

The consultant previously assessed that retailers are sitting on almost $1 billion worth of inventory that cannot be sold or returned to suppliers because of the Order-In-Council.

“Despite the ongoing confusion surrounding the ban, after four years, we ought to be able to address one crucial question.” Has the prohibition enhanced safety for Canadians? Mauser asks.

Illegally Obtained Firearms are the Problem

Statistics Canada reports a 10% increase in firearm-related violent crime between 2020 and 2022, rising from 12,614 incidents to 13,937 incidents. In that timeframe, the incidence of firearm-related violent crime increased from 33.7 incidents per 100,000 population in 2021 to 36.7 incidents the subsequent year.

“This marks the highest rate documented since the collection of comparable data began in 2009,” the criminologist explains.

Supplementary DataData indicates that firearm homicides have risen since 2020. “The issue lies not with lawfully-held firearms,” Mauser stated.

Firearms that have been banned under the Order-in-Council continue to be securely stored in the safes of their lawful owners. The individuals underwent a thorough vetting process by the RCMP and are subject to nightly monitoring to ensure there are no infractions that could pose a risk to public safety.

“The firearms involved in homicides were seldom legally owned weapons wielded by their rightful owners,” Mauser continues. The number of offenses linked to organized crime has surged from 4,810 in 2016 to a staggering 13,056 in 2020.

“If those in power … aim to diminish crime and enhance public safety, they ought to implement strategies that effectively focus on offenders and utilize our limited tax resources judiciously to reach these objectives,” he stated.

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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

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Google

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.

According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.

Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.

google

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.

Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.

Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.

To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.

Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.

On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.

In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.

Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

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Pixa Bay

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.

TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.

When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.

And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.

Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.

A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.

google

Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.

But today, it feels more like reality.

Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.

Could we remember Google in the same way that we remember Yahoo or Ask Jeeves in decades? These next few years could be significant.

SOURCE | CNN

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The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

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(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.

The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.

Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.

This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.

In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.

The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.

This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.

The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.

In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.

According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.

Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.

The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.

For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.

Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.

As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.

As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.

The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.

SOURCE: AP

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